The following was compiled by Dr. Hurt’s wife, Ashley.
Update:
Here’s a brief run down of info I got through out the day:
This am: Dr. Joel Hurt went with another medical group today to downtown Haitian hospital. Saw lots of pts in tents lots of amputations.
1330: text From Dr. Scott Smith: “we have done 8 major cases and several minor ones. Haitians are TOUGH. They are very stoic and grateful. We have tons of work to do here. Great crew and nice facilities”
Mid-afternoon: text from Dr. Tim Guermay: “Several surgeries completed today; team driving in Port-au-Prince and finding more patients that need care.”
1936: text from Dr. Hurt “it’s crazy right now.”
Conversation with Dr. Hurt:
This am he went to downtown Haiti to the main hospital there, think Parkland in Dallas. The mission had done little advertising for the team since the details of the arriving and what supplies we had available was uncertain. He wanted to make sure we could get patients. At the downtown hospital there were tents set up everywhere as wards and patient holding areas. For example the Swiss have a tent set up as an pediatric operating suite. There are multiple international teams there.
While Dr. Hurt was there a general surgeon grabbed him and ask Dr. Hurt to help her round in these tents. He said the charts are difficult to read some entries are in different languages, hard to know the last time someone saw the patients, etc. When he would come upon a patient that need to go back to the OR he’d tell a PA that was following them, they would take a sheet of paper with the tent # and bed # to the OR and a few minutes later another crew would be there and take the patient. Dr. Hurt rounded for 3-4 hours.
The OR’s at the Haitian hospital are like open out houses. Enclosed spaces with slits in the top of the walls to the outside. Our team converted a room into a 2 bed OR with AC and an autoclave, way to sterilize our equipment. The main hospital downtown in Haiti doesn’t have an autoclave. So far we are the only we know that have this tool.
There are 30-40 other medical people at the mission along with our team. Many are medics that go out in the day to surrounding villages.
Communication stinks there. All the towers have been damaged.
After rounding Dr. Hurt tried to get some xray equipment. After a 4 hour round about tour of Haiti he arrived at the MOH unsuccesful. A mini-c arm is needed!
Our team performed around 14 surgeries today with 16-17 in house patients remaining. The RNs and doctors will be taking turns over night to stay with these patients and take care of them. Dr. Hurt has the next 3 hours and is currently relieving Dr Gueramy.
Patients seen today:
Below the Knee Amputation Revisions (BKA)
A teenager with a septic abortion
Wound and Fracture wash Outs
Ex-fix Femurs and Tib/Fibs
1 death- at 2130 an ambulance pulled up with a man hit by a car. He was pronounced once they got him into the clinic area.
A boy was left at the front gate today. He has learning disabilities. He’ll be taken to the orphanage tomorrow. My heart breaks.
Dr. Smith shared with Dr. Hurt something he’ll never forget. Our OR is a two bed OR. Today 2 women were getting their amputations revised, which involves cutting more of the leg off. They had spinals and were in no pain. Both of the women started singing a haitain hymn while the saw blades were going. I would never be able to forget that moment either.
People are desperate to keep their legs, preventing some of them from seeking the medical care they need. You lose your leg you lose your life. Our team has the equipment to save limbs…thank the Lord! Hopefully they’re able to save a lot.
***They need foley catheters!!!
Side note: I saw on FOX news a request from a physical therapist in Haiti to send more PT’s there. If you are a therapist or know one that would be interested in going (must have current passport and experience).
Flight Info:
We now have a clear free way out of Haiti for our teams. From PAP to FL. Praise God! Arrival times to Austin will depend on the domestic departures from FL. We likely won’t know the timing of the flights out of Haiti till the day before. So if you have a loved one scheduled to come home on Thursday, we should know some info about their flights on Wed. Coming home Sat, we’ll know something on Friday. As soon as I hear something I’ll be sure to send that out.
Update and request from Bob King at the MOH:
–We could really use an anesthesia machine…would 1 of the hospitals donate 1? It would be a HUGE help.
– We could use the following positions:
- Structural Engineer (We don’t know the structural integrity of the buildings yet…orphans are still sleeping in tents).
- General Contractor and a fence team of 4 workers. (It would be good if the contractor had site survey experience). This team should plan to stay for 2 weeks.
- Skid Steer operator (This would be HUGE…we really need to raise the finances for the actual skid steer est..$50K. We could use this person immediately after acquisition of the skid steer).
- Diesel Automotive Mechanic (Someone who could figure out what needs to be done on all the equipment, order it, and then do the work).
- 1 Dispatcher
- 1 Warehouse operator (They need to know how to set up a rack system within a warehouse….they will be setting up the existing and new storage areas and training the nationals on how to run it).
- 1 on-site volunteer (We have anywhere from 60-100+ guests at any one time on the premises…coordinate housing, food, etc…
We need a 125 Kw generator ($35K)…we have 1 running currently but we don’t have a backup at all. We should really be running 2 at staggered integrals…the mission and hospital goes dark if it goes down. There is a big security issue with this as well…if we go dark…we’ll have troubles with people jumping the fence and taking the food.
If you would like to donate to help the Haiti cause please go to www.hcbc.com or email Jonathon Patton jpatton1214@gmail.com. Money will go to purchases listed above, flights to and from Haiti, or any other need that presents itself.
Help Haiti T-shirts! www.helphaitishirt.com 100% of the proceeds go to missions working out of Haiti. They’re awesome.
Pictures courtesy of Dr. Tim Gueramy
Pic 1: Teams unloading the planes yesterday, they had 10 minutes to unload!
Pic 2: Roof fallen on top of home – near mission complex
Pic 3: Running a nebulizer off a bicycle foot pump.
Pic 4: Little girl with infected, depressed skull fracture. Still smiling-Amazing!
